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MG TD TF 1500 - Front Andrex Shocks on my non MK2

Several folks have asked me to try and take some photos of the Front Andrex shocks that are mounted to my 53 TD. It is not a MK2 and apparently the presence of the front shocks is unusual. Here are a couple of photos, it is not the easiest place to photograph well. It think that the question is if these came from the factory on the car or were added later? Not sure if these images give you what you need to make a comment on this?

S Griffin

Here is a closeup of the upper mounting bracket.

S Griffin

Lower mount for the Andrex are simply extra holes in the lower arm and a spacer. Upper mount in all MKII cars I have observed are welded in place. All observed original C car mounts have 4 bolt holes drilled-but no bolts. Easiest way to attach brackets after the fact would be bolting them in place.

momsauto

"Almost all of the Mark II items were available separately during the production of the TD,and are listed in the Service Parts book." So it says towards the bottom of page in this link, discussing MkII features.

http://www.mg-cars.org.uk/mgtd/mgtAlmost%20all%20of%20the%20Mark%20II%20items%20were%20available%20separately%20during%20the%20production%20of%20the%20TD,and%20are%20listed%20in%20the%20Service%20Parts%20bookd_production.htm

The article does not mention what "features" were not available from factory, it would be interesting to know which or see a price list from then. Obviously the special badges were not available from the factory for a non mkII car.
D mckellar

"Almost all of the Mark II items were available separately during the production of the TD,and are listed in the Service Parts book." So it says towards the bottom of page in this link, discussing MkII features.

http://www.mg-cars.org.uk/mgtd/mgtAlmost%20all%20of%20the%20Mark%20II%20items%20were%20available%20separately%20during%20the%20production%20of%20the%20TD,and%20are%20listed%20in%20the%20Service%20Parts%20bookd_production.htm

The article does not mention what "features" were not available from factory, it would be interesting to know which or see a price list from then. Obviously the special badges were not available from the factory for a non mkII car.
D mckellar

Thanks, I know that these were available as options, but as a neophyte to the TD I don't have a lot of knowledge or background. I have been told by folks that really know these cars that it is very rare to see Andrex on a non MK2. It looks from a response on my Facebook posting that these do not have the correct welds on the upper bracket and that they are for sure added post factory. I speculate that this happened fairly early on in the cars history as I have records from 1965 and there is no reference, but this is pure speculation on my part. I don't hold out much hope of every finding the ownership from 53 to 65.
S Griffin

I would agree that the brackets look installed later, and are not factory. The above quote by D. McKellar is correct (and may even be mine; I can't get to the link offered), but the statement about badges is not. Mark II badges were available over the counter, and could be added to any car - frequently earlier Mark II cars that, technically, should not have the badges.

Tom Lange
MGT Repair
t lange

Thanks Tom, appreciate the confirmation.
S Griffin

I would re-post the link I posted above, in which Tom is mentioned, but the website robots would turn the link into mush after a short time, as it did above. The link can be found by googling "original mgtd time-lines" and the link, with about the same title as the search, should come up on or near the top of the results.

Tom, you must have read my post too fast, as essentially what I said is that obviously one could not order (available options) a standard TD from the factory to include MkII badges. You said the same as what I said, I think.

Unless there is some solid evidence that the very few standard TD's that got the factory installed Andrex option had the top plate welded in place, there is no reason to believe they were.

After all, were not the MkIIs built in batches? The assembly line for them would have been set up quite differently than when building standard TD's. Andrex supplied MG with top plates with 4 bolt holes already drilled. They probably supplied 4 bolts along with each one, too. Makes perfect sense to me that the assembly line could have installed that top plate with bolts on the occasional optioned TD, and used weld on all the MkII's. Think about it. I do agree that the top plate S Griffin has pictured is not how it should be, and there should be 4 holes and not 2.
D mckellar

The was the link d mckellar was attempting to post

http://www.mg-cars.org.uk/mgtd/mgtd_production.htm#TD_MarkII
Christopher Couper

I just looked and the bracket on the other side has the correct 4 holes.
S Griffin

Is it bolted on with 4 bolts?
D mckellar

No still only 2 bolts, but 4 holes. I'll get a shot of it later. I don't think it really alters my view at this point that these were fitted post factory sometime in the cars first 10 years of life.
S Griffin

For completeness, here is the other side. The bracket has 4 holes, only two are occupied.

S Griffin

I have just tracked down a PO that owned the car from 1965. They sent me this photo taken in Tulsa OK in the late 60's and the Andrex shocks are already on the car. So they have been on the car at least 50 years I would say.

S Griffin

This thread was discussed between 27/03/2017 and 15/04/2017

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